The Art of Literary Translation: A Workshop in Paris
**The admissions deadline for this course has passed. If you are interested in applying or getting on an advance list for next year, please write to soasummer@columbia.edu.**
In Partnership with Columbia Global Centers l Europe in Paris
Course number TBA
4 Points with Non-Credit Option
June 23 - July 19, 2013
M, T, W, R, F, 10 AM - 6 PM
Instructor: Alyson Waters
We begin with the conviction that literary translation is its own art form and, as with all art, greater accomplishment requires practice and engagement. This international course in Literary Translation offers both. The workshop structure allows students to experience cooperative learning as they critique and edit each others’ work. With the emphasis first on grammatical structures and vocabulary, and then on stylistics and esthetics, the intent of the workshop is to bring each student’s translation to the next level of refinement. Paris affords unique opportunities to inform and enrich the art of translation. To navigate and encounter daily life, to partake in conversations, to observe cultural difference—both planned and happenstance—all this contributes to grasping the linguistic complexities and nuances that make translation a literary art.
Students will be working on the translation of a work of their own choosing. Formal workshops will meet for 3 hours, 3 days per week. Readings will be selected from theories and methodologies of literary translation, as well as from a number of contemporary French and Francophone novelists, playwrights, and poets. Translation will also be used as a means to understand and communicate cultural difference through French, African, Caribbean and Quebecois authors. In addition to the workshop, there will be lectures and seminars for 2 hours, 2 times per week with writers, translators, editors and publishers on the contemporary scene. Students will also be required to attend plays, movies and read the French press on a weekly basis. Additionally, optional language courses will be provided 3 times per week for 1 hour each.
Columbia Global Centers l Europe
The program takes place at the Columbia Global Centers l Europe, in historic Reid Hall. Launched in March 2010, the Center is currently directed by Paul LeClerc, former President of the New York Public Library. Located in the heart of the Montparnasse district of Paris, the buildings surround a beautiful private interior courtyard and garden measuring 9,000 square feet. The facilities also include a small reference library, classrooms, two large conference rooms, and administrative offices. The Center, which has full WIFI coverage, is open Monday - Saturday from 8am - 10pm.
Admissions
The admissions deadline for this course has passed. If you are interested in applying or getting on an advance list for next year, please write to soasummer@columbia.edu.
Housing
Students stay in dorm-style accommodations in close proximity to Reid Hall, in Paris' Montparnasse neighborhood (14th or 15th arrondissements). A Housing Fee of $950 will be assessed for those students who opt for Columbia housing in Paris and include the costs for single, en suite accommodations.
Tuition and Fees
Columbia's standard tuition rate for 2013 is $1,454 per point. The Art of Literary Translation: A Workshop in Paris is a 4-credit course, so the total tuition is $5,816. For more information, please visit: http://ce.columbia.edu/summer/tuition-and-fees.
A limited number of non-credit spaces will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. The non-credit tuition is $4,380.
In addition to tuition, students are required to pay a Housing Fee (detailed above) and a Program Fee of $800 will be assessed to cover land-based costs such as transportation, administrative fees, supplies, and similar costs.
Students are responsible for your own airfare, meals, and other costs related to your stay in Paris. Round-trip airfare from New York City to Paris is estimated at $1,400. While spending on meals and other items during your stay in Paris will vary considerably depending on your budget and choices, students can expect to spend at least $1,000 on meals throughout the month of the program. The dorm provides a communal kitchen with basic appliances and personal food storage, and there are nearby food markets for groceries.
About the Instructor
Alyson Waters is a translator of modern and contemporary literary fiction, criticism, and theory, as well as art history. Her book translations include works by Vassilis Alexakis, Louis Aragon, Daniel Arasse, René Belletto, Reda Bensmaia, Emmanuel Bove, Eric Chevillard, Albert Cossery, Yasmina Khadra and Tzvetan Todorov. Waters has received a National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowship, a PEN Translation Fund Grant and residency grants from the Centre national du livre, the Villa Gillet in Lyon, France and the Banff International Literary Translation Centre in Canada. She teaches literary translation workshops at Yale University, NYU and Columbia University, and has a PhD in Comparative Literature from the Graduate School and University Center of the City of New York.
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Columbia University School of the Arts offers MFA degrees in Film, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, and Writing, an MA degree in Film Studies, a joint JD/MFA degree in Theatre Management & Producing, and a PhD degree in Theatre History, Literature, and Theory.
Columbia University School of the Arts offers MFA degrees in Film, Theatre Arts, Visual Arts, and Writing, an MA degree in Film Studies, a joint JD/MFA degree in Theatre Management & Producing, and a PhD degree in Theatre History, Literature, and Theory.